Insider tips on how to choose your next bottle of wine

Regardless of of your wine-geek level, it’s always exciting to get insider tips on how to choose your next bottle of wine

At times, choosing wine can be a daunting task for anybody, myself included. So what is the best approach to take when purchasing wine or ordering wine in a restaurant?

Wine is for everyone

Unfortunately, there’s not a golden rule to follow here. But, we can help guide wine lovers from all levels to pick the best wines for their palate. After all, the essential thing when drinking wine is to make sure you’re drinking something you enjoy!

One truth about wine is that nobody knows everything there is to know. Therefore, any person who makes another person feel intentionally insecure or intimidated about their level of knowledge is pretentious. 

Wine is for everybody, and there is no inherent reason why anybody should be afraid of it. 

Wine is a community

Of course, as you learn more about wine, it becomes easier to select the wine you’ll enjoy or wines you’ll want to share with friends and family. You can learn how to read a wine label, how to discuss wine, how to smell, and yes, how to order off a wine menu. That part always seems to be the most dreadful. You know when you or the waiter corrects you, although they knew which wine you were ordering and you just wanted to cringe into your seat? 

The most important thing about wine, though, is that it’s a community. Find people you trust, and you’ll *almost* never drink another disappointing glass of wine again. 

Building trust can be challenging, but the wine community is very welcoming, especially here at Rising Wines Collective. So whether you’re choosing wine in-person or online, the important thing is developing that trust and a willingness to communicate about what you like and what interests you. 

A skilled wine steward, sommelier, or web platform will ask you the right questions, listen to you with openness, and put the right wine in your hand, glass, or mailbox. Then the next time you come back, talk about your experience, they will give you another great bottle of wine to try, and on and on. 

Wine that suits you

When you find something you like, please keep track of it. Even a note on your phone so you can reference it the next time you’re looking for a wine. Tell your bartender what you had previously and say you’d like to try something similar, and carry on that way. You can also do this online with a team like ours or in your local wine shop. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you’ll notice trends and be able to pick up on what kinds of wine suit you. 

By finding your wine community and establishing trust with those who know more and want to help you learn, you can one day pay that forward. How rewarding will it be when the day comes that one of your friends asks for your help in selecting wines or learning to get more comfortable? 

So remember, take notes, ask questions, don’t be intimidated, and most importantly, enjoy it!